[Rowing Machine] 2018: Week 01 {243.2}

I was in athletic shape once. I worked hard for months, rigorously studying fitness, until stopping for years. Careers are similar. You get the degree and perhaps opportunity, until you stop trying. Maybe you don’t get fired, laid off, or underemployed. Maybe it’s just you get disenfranchised. The nice thing about being a contractor, workin’ “the gig life,” is that your career fitness is always in athletic shape. You’re always fit and ready to work.

Tuesday 26 Morning: time 5 minutes, 152 rows [30.4 average strokes per minute or “SPM”].. Feeling more back to normal. Only slept in for 20 minutes this morning. The snow is melting, my backlog is growing, and my mind is returning to its normal pace. Pacing will be key going forward. Why burn myself out at 38 SPM when 32 SPM works?

Tuesday 26 Evening: time 5 minutes, 163 rows [32.6 SPM]. I’m back on track. I spent some extra time writing, which may have been the trick, or, eating massive amounts of food offsetting weeks of fitness progress. Guessing the former, just because I didn’t feel like rowing until I finished writing.[]

Wednesday 27 Morning: time 5 minutes, 146 rows [29.2 SPM]. Didn’t get enough sleep, slept in for 40 minutes, and didn’t feel like writing. Kept a light pace throughout, so I just have to stay strong, schedule my sleep hours, and not get distracted. I’m taking vitamins after every set to help my health.

8 likes with 2 retweets for that one. Maybe it was the bit about taking vitamins? People certainly weren’t digging that I slept in …probably?

Wednesday 27 Evening: time 5 minutes, 161 rows [32.2 SPM]. I got a text at 60 about the prognosis of someone… slowed down at 90, and concluded with anxious energy. Things are looking good so far. I gave it a little more in those last 30… because you never know when that mortality timer will go off.[]

Thursday 28 Morning: time 5 minutes, 150 rows [30 SPM]. Rowing is an ingrained thing for me. I’m compelled to row. Rowing helps me feel better. These sets are nice daily warm-ups and wind-downs. It’s nice, then, how easily incorporating taking vitamins before every set also became ingrained for me.

Thursday 28 Evening: time 5 minutes, 187 rows [37.4 SPM]. Forgot to take a photo but I burned over 60 calories. I’ve gotta say, I’ve been seeing the results again. I haven’t been in this good of shape in over five years, and it’s just working out twice daily for months. Even getting sick was briefer.[]

Friday 29 Morning: time 5 minutes, 150 rows [30 SPM]. Vitamins before rowing, light set to warm up the muscles before tackling the day, concluded by a small glass of juice. Once I get this to be second nature, like how I’m naturally compelled to row unless I’m sick, then I’m going to be rockin it!

Friday 29 Evening: time 5 minutes, 178 rows [35.6 SPM]. I was exhausted at 90, but you know what? I’m not dead! I’m not near death! Exhaustion is just your body getting a little outside its comfort zone. I told two of my coworkers about rowing, which was perhaps more scary, because I’m actually shy.[]

Saturday 30 Morning: time 5 minutes, 167 rows [33.4 SPM]. It’s nice how when you build up a routine, there’s no longer that sense of “oh, I’ve gotta exercise now, bummer.” It’s just something I do now, like eating and sleeping. If only other things in life were that straightforward… dare I say easy?

Saturday Bonus: Walked around the city for about 30 minutes.

Saturday 30 Evening: time 5 minutes, 164 rows [32.8 SPM]. I had more hesitancy than normal to get going and I forgot my ear protection. Good set and good reminder that these Model B ergs get loud. I also need to clean the monitor, erg, and area tomorrow as part of weekly maintenance. Distracted today.[]

Sunday 31 Afternoon: time 5 minutes, 163 rows [32.6 SPM]. Late start to the day. Headache’s gone. Slept too long and the blood must have accumulated. Just like when I don’t exercise and I feel sluggish, only 100 times more painful. Anyways, good set overall. Had a good rhythm at around 90 to 100 rows.

Sunday Evening: time 5 minutes, 183 rows [36.6 SPM]. Started off kinda mild until around 50 or so when I went… …wild. (Oh my! What a creative joke!!) By 100, I was in the zone, and after passing my average of around 163 with time left on the clock, you count say the rowing machine I did own![]

Monday 01 Morning: time 5 minutes, 168 rows [33.6 SPM]. I always enjoy early afternoon rows more than rowing first thing, or even one hour after waking up, because by now, I’ve already done a bunch of that whole waking up thing. Still, I gotta row when I can, otherwise, I’ll never go row, you know?

Monday 01 Evening: time 5 minutes, 161 rows [32.2 SPM]. Started off light, shed off a bad memory at 84 that randomly popped into my head, closed my eyes, and just went for it. I enjoy hearing the machine, my breath, and my body as it runs through its paces. It’s calming. Everything else goes still.[]

Consistency: another week of 100% for vitamins, rowing, water, and brushing/flossing

Health: aim for 7 hours of sleep? 6 at least?[]

From Good to Better

After nearly completely depleting my backlog and needing to use a “come back tomorrow” filler update, I’m getting back into more of a writing routine. I still don’t feel like writing right now, for example, but I’ll appreciate the effort later on.

I’m starting to adopt a “do it now” approach. Send the email now versus mull it over. Do the thing that needs to be done rather than put it off. The big one for me was finish doing my current task before starting another, which I’m working on.

I’m making fitness progress. Areas of my body are still lumpy with fat, but others are getting more toned, which is nice. I just have to keep going, keep exercising, eating well, and getting enough sleep, well past seeming like I achieved the results I wanted.[]

Sober Living

I was much less stressed and anxious this week. Any moments of stress weren’t enough to make me feel like I wanted to disengage from this reality and enter a world of numbness. I don’t know what I’ll write about on Saturday, actually.

I have plenty of topics I could write about on a broad spectrum of sobriety although if I’m just writing about sobriety as a contractor, for The Gig Life XII, I don’t have much inspiration as of Sunday evening. I’ll probably think of something at work.

Conversely, especially when I wasn’t feeling well, I probably looked hungover or stoned. One unfortunate circumstance is that after being in that condition one too many times, it’s easy to casually operate under similar conditions while sober.[]

Work has been more stressful this past week than the last few. I wrote about this throughout the week, including a specific event in yesterday’s post, (which isn’t finished as of this writing,) and hopefully we can turn it around soon enough.

I’m also finding city driving to be increasingly more stressful. I can adjust my schedule, take it easy, and flip up my rear-view mirror so I don’t think of the people riding my tail as much, yet it’s becoming more anxious for me than even a year ago…

Overall, I’d say I hadn’t really tried to confront any stressful events this past week, opting instead to ignore or avoid any confrontation, which can be good, or can lead to me becoming more shy or reclusive. It’s a balancing act between brave and polite.[]

Disengaging from Stress

Rowing has actually been really helpful this week. I might have some kind of negative thought pop up while I’m trying to relax, then when I go row, I think about that event until I’m tired of it, then just get into my rowing empty mind space.

To mitigate the stress from driving, I’m trying to avoid driving at peak hours, which sometimes works. It sucks how Seattle is so terrible for traffic that I have to adjust my lifestyle to accommodate. All I want here is to not spend hours driving each day.

I’m also becoming increasingly more skilled at avoiding when people express anger. I’m still guilty of expressing anger myself. If I can say anything positive here, it’s that I feel like I’m better at wrapping up negativity quicker than I have in years past.[]

Currently, I have one 11mm wrench and an adjustable wrench. Since these are purpose tools, solely to maintain the nut-and-bolt tightness of my rowing machine’s seat, I might rather want a ratchet with an 11mm socket or a second 11mm wrench.

If you look at the links for each day, each [except one] includes a photo of the rowing machine’s monitor. Dust gets on it easily, so I’ll get some cotton swabs for my toolkit, for the precision cleaning the monitor buttons, along with any bits on the machine.

I don’t really need more for the toolkit than the wrenches, swabs, 20W motor oil, and teaspoon for a monthly chain lubrication. The other parts don’t really need regular maintenance. Maybe I’ll get a spare 11mm nut and bolt in case this one breaks.[]

Photo and Outro

My photo themes for 2017 was to trade off between Colossus and Colossus’sbarbell. For 2018, I’ll keep this theme until I completely run out of ideas, at which time I’ll introduce more characters and perhaps follow a similar theme? Who knows.

This week’s photos concept was that I still have this A+ book from 2009 because it still has value. (And it’s also a memento.) Just because we learned something once doesn’t mean we put it away forever. It’s the same for fitness and knowledge.

I don’t believe in New Year’s Resolutions. So I’m going to let some nasty habit of mine fester for months until I reach an arbitrary date and time to then work up the courage to change that habit? That said, I do support and endorse de-nasty-habit-ifications.

My big goal is to write. My important goal is to write "TheStory." My proudest moment is the most recent time I overcame a fear, which should have been today. I'm a better zombie than I was yesterday. Let's strive to be better everyday. (Avatar)